Tamiya TAM26541 US M8 Light Armored Car - "Colbert", Northwest Europe, 1944 (1:48 Scale)"The only way you can win a war is to attack and keep on attacking, and after you have done that, keep attacking some more."- General George S. Patton Jr., January 1945

The M8 Light Armored Car was a 6x6 armored car produced by the Ford Motor Company during the Second World War. It was used by the U.S. and British troops in Europe and the Far East until the end of the war. The vehicle was widely exported and as of 2006 still remains in service in some third world countries. In British service the M8 was known as Greyhound.

In July 1941, the Ordnance department initiated a development of a new fast tank destroyer to replace the M6 37 mm Gun Motor Carriage, which was essentially a 3/4 ton truck with a 37 mm gun installed in the rear bed. The requirement was for a 6x4 wheeled vehicle armed with a 37 mm gun and a coaxial machine gun mounted in a turret. Its glacis armor was supposed to withstand a .50 cal. machine gun fire and side armor a .30 cal. machine gun fire. Prototypes were submitted by Studebaker (T21), Ford (T22) and Chrysler (T23), all of them similar in design and appearance. In April 1942 a modified version of the T22 was selected. By then it was clear that the 37 mm gun would not be effective against the front armour of German tanks so the new armored car, designated M8 Light Armored Car and named Greyhound by the British due to its high speed but thin armor, took on reconnaissance role instead. Contract issues and minor design improvements delayed serial production until March 1943. Production ended in June 1945. A total of 8,523 units were built, not including the M20 Armored Utility Car. Sold Out!

Historical Account: "Breakthrough" - The 4th Armored Division ("Breakthrough") was activated in April 1941 at Camp Pine, New York. It participated in the Tennessee and California maneuvers before shipping out to England in December 1943. The division landed in France on June 13th, 1944, at Utah Beach and fought notably in Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsaice, and Central European campaigns. It was one of only two entire divisions in the war to be awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. The 4th Armored Division missed only one of the Third Army's 281 days of combat. By war's end, the division had captured 90,354 enemy troops, killed an estimated 13,600 soldiers, and destroyed 579 German tanks.

Length: 4 inchesWidth: 1-1/2 inches

Features

The U.S. M8 “Greyhound” which was often used in reconnaissance roles during WWII, now comes as a finished model.

Both of the open-top turret interior and the mechanically complicated suspension have rich finish.

Metal chassis adds to the feeling of weight of the model.

This finished version features a different vehicle number from the kit version.